Morally Suspect
by WeAllFlyHigh
Summary: Dr. Arthur Kirkland obeyed the law, even if he thought that the law might be missing something. But he didn't let things like morality stop him from doing what he wanted. -Companion to Duplicate but can be read alone.-


He wasn't doing anything illegal. But it was... morally suspect.

Everything connected to the Jones-Williams family was questionable. They made millions off of the sick and dying.

They had hired him to make them a clone of their son. It was perfectly legal. Some people did consider to be immoral cloning or encroachment on the territories of gods. But it was legal. Body modifications both of the genetic and physical aspects, were also legal. As long as parental consent was given you could even carry out the procedures on children. It might be bad parenting, but it wasn't a crime.

But clones were overwhelmingly brain-dead organ warmers or programmed AIs given flesh suites to carry out their duty. They weren't Alfred.

Alfred's existence was morally questionable.

You could do practically anything you wanted to do with a clone. Provided it was done humanely. Perfect human cloning wasn't possible. Most cloners accepted this and sacrificed the brain to focus on the development of the rest of the body. The brain was by far the most complicated part, so it made sense that neglecting that part made the job a great deal easier. It also left no doubt that what had been created was a body and not a person, which made clone treatment moral.

Arthur had deviated from the norm. He had leaned into the imperfect cloning. He sacrificed the need for a perfect duplicate in order to produce a perfectly functional person.

As a result, Alfred, strictly speaking, was not a perfect clone. Truthfully, Alfred was not at all a clone. But Arthur couldn't admit that to anyone. He had been hired to make a clone and Alfred was identical to Mathew on a simple genetic level.

Alfred himself was...well Arthur had to wonder about him. He fit perfectly into the role Mr. and Mrs. Jones-Williams had imagined for him. He took attention away from Mathews life and thus kept him safe. For years all Alfred had to do accomplish this was to live.

Arthur wished it could have always remained so. The first attempt on Mathew's life was a mess. Alfred hadn't been trained much at that point, he was still so young, and he had reacted instinctually. Alfred had impressive instincts. The man was paralyzed which had created a rather pressing situation for his employers to clean up.

Alfred had stood above the man, his hands trembling repeating, "I…I... I did… I didn't." Mr. and Mrs. Jones- Williams had rushed to assure the boy that he had done very well. And they were so impressed by him. To their credit, they hadn't neglected either boy. They quickly moved on to comfort a crying Mathew, leaving Alfred to Arthurs care. Alfred had stood up in a daze.

Arthur had cleaned he boy up without words. Alfred stared at him as he worked. He wordlessly offered his arm when Arthur went to take his vitals, measuring how the ordeal affected him. Finally, Arthur caved under the weight of the boy's eyes, explaining just what he was doing. It was only fair. The boy had more than earned the right to know about the ins and outs of his own body.

When Arthur was done explaining, Alfred had taken a hold of his hands. He wove his fingers through Arthurs and held his larger hands between his own. "I..."

Alfred looked at him with eyes gleaming from an inner light. Arthur thought that was the first time he caught a glimpse of just what he had created. The boy wasn't upset. He was pleased. Technically, he had every reason to be. He had just saved Mathew's life. He had fulfilled the reason for his creation. Mr. and Mrs. Jones Williams were proud of him. And Arthur... he couldn't tell if Alfred was pleased by the end result of his actions or the violence itself.

Arthur was many things; brilliant, talented, a perfect gentleman. But not, perhaps, as trustworthy as his employers thought he was. He didn't disobey orders, but he didn't let them confine him.

Arthur had never been forbidden from telling Alfred anything, but he suspected that had more to do with Mr. and Mrs. Jones-Williams not considering that either of their sons would care for the details. And after Alfred had expressed an interest, they did not consider the result of Alfred knowing. Alfred was extremely bright, both boys were. But Alfred had a reason to take a special interest in his operations and his determination was unequalled. He devoured all the information he could get his hands on. He wanted to know every detail of every theory, and Arthur never held anything back.

He spent Mathews checkups asking about the boy's life. What he liked and what he wanted to do. He treated Mathew like a patient, never mind the fact that he had not been trained as a family doctor.

Alfred was treated like a mix of student and experiment. Arthur was always curious about what Alfred would want to know this time, what he thought about these procedures or this test. What would he do if he were the one running the tests?

Alfred started self-experimenting.

Arthur instantly knew the moment he saw the uneven stitching on Alfred's thigh. It was high enough up his leg that his clothing hid it and small enough that Mathew would miss it unless he was looking for it.

Clever, Arthur had thought.

Alfred watched him intently. Arthur didn't look at the young teenager, but he could feel his eyes. Alfred was testing him. Was this the first time he had tried something like this? He sincerely doubted it.

Arthur ran his thumb along the stiches feeling for heat or implants. "Your stitching is messy. Do take care to improve it. It's meant to help the healing and keep infections from developing. You should use medical thread. It'll partially dissolve at the very least. It will help reduce scaring." Arthur met Alfred's eyes. "I have plenty." Alfred had smiled back at him.

Arthur didn't report Alfred's experiments to Mr. and Mrs. Jones-Williams. His job description only required him to report on his own experiments. He ensured Alfred never did anything that interfered with his work or something similarly foolish. He made the young man memorize lists of chemicals and drugs that work counter act or amplifying each other. He knew Alfred didn't like the restrictions, but he obeyed them. At least for now.

The young man deserved to do what he wanted with his limited autonomy. And Arthur wanted to see what Alfred would do.

I wasn't like Arthur never had doubts. He really should have reported it to his employers or at least removed himself from the situation. He was really just allowing himself to be an accomplice at this point. But Alfred would get this look in his eyes and Arthur couldn't resist it. It was as if Alfred could see the entirety of the world and was debating on either cradling it protectively in his hands or shattering it upon the ground.

Sometimes Alfred would watch Arthur with that same brightness. Was he leaning closer to give Arthur a peck on the check as he left? Or would Alfred press his lips to flesh and sink his teeth in? Arthur wanted…no, he needed to know.

Arthur wanted to know just what he had created. Monster or miracle?

When Alfred made his move Arthur should have stopped it. Probably. Maybe. It would have been the clearly morally right thing to do. But nothing Arthur had done since he came under the employ of Jones-Williams was clearly morally good.

So, he let Alfred continue doing what he desired. He had never been able to deny him before. And he encouraged his actions. He returned the kisses and echoed the moans. He showed him all he knew of this aspect of life. Alfred was old enough.

It wasn't illegal.

Notes:

So… the relationship in this fic may not be healthy. Personally I would be super worried about the age gap and power imbalance if this was real life. But I would not say this story portrays grooming.

To give some character insight, four people (not including Alfred) know that Alfred is a clone, one of them is not related to him and Alfred would prefer to go into a relationship without hiding that. In think there's also an aspect of Arthur is supposed to be loyal to his parents and this is a form of rebellion. Meanwhile Arthur really doesn't know what to make of Alfred and is willing to see where this goes. (With that in mind, I don't even know if there's genuine attraction here, but there is some affection just maybe not a romantic variety.)


End file.
